Word Origin & History

wail early 14c., from O.N. væla "to lament," from væ "woe" (see woe). Of jazz musicians, "to play very well," attested from 1955, Amer.Eng. slang (wailing "excellent" is attested from 1954). The noun is recorded from c.1400.

Example Sentences for wail

She sounds an urgent wail that echoes loudly off the empty stoops.

The banshee wail of an ambulance, the song of its siren, is the stuff of awful visions.

Otherwise the wail of the loons is at risk in the northern wilderness.

Go on, lift up the neck of the guitar and press on the whammy bar to really wail on an extended note.

Wall space is ample for this number of frames, so that the wail of the skied is not heard in the land.

Not far away other earthquake survivors wail in agony in a makeshift hospital.

Then came the sickening sound of a wild tumble, the clatter of hooves, a terrified wail.

And there is the startled jolt of adrenaline in response to the roar of a leopard--or the wail of an alarm.

But you can always remember the good old days and wail.

Other animals may whimper, moan and wail, but none sheds tears of emotion--not even our closest primate cousins.